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Tesla cars have no radio?

Tesla cars have no radio?

Submitted by Bond 007 on Wed, 2020-03-04 18:32

Is it true that Tesla cars do not have radio inside? That looks like a super dumb move considering radio is just about the only entertainment I have while driving.

vfsmith2 |
4 March, 2020

The Model 3 has FM radio. And you can listen to music or Audible or whatever via Bluetooth from your phone. There are also streaming services. But if you just want to listen to something and don't have a phone or other service, you can get HD FM radio pouring from the speakers the minute you drive the car off the lot. Excellent sound also!

Bond 007 |
5 March, 2020

That’s good to hear. So I presume the Y will have FM too. I really don’t want to do anything with the phone while driving. I don’t use any music streaming at all. I like to hear whatever is on the radio as well as some news updates time to time. Do the streaming services offer the same functionality of a traditional radio for free (Including news )?

andy.connor.e |
5 March, 2020

Its not that bad. You can use voice commands with your phone to open spotify and just start playing say classic rock, or jazz. Regular radio has commercials so its not really any different.

EVRider |
5 March, 2020

@Bond 007: I wouldn’t presume that the Model Y has FM, since it doesn’t say that in the Model Y specs. Maybe it will. You presumed that Teslas don’t have any radio, and we know how that turned out. :-)

Earl and Nagin ... |
5 March, 2020

Teslas have many radios:
FM, WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular, GPS, Near Field Communications, RFID, and Radar, with many apps and features to take advantage of them.

Earl and Nagin ... |
5 March, 2020

I forgot TPMS above.

rxlawdude |
5 March, 2020

Good to see those who claim radios are not needed remain consistent in their harping.

The fact is that 100% of all EVs sold in the US have FM radio, and many have AM too.

Those who don't use radios are free to do so. But stop telling everyone who DOES use radios to suck it up! Really.

blkice |
5 March, 2020

Most sports are on AM , Need AM

jimglas |
5 March, 2020

I stream SXM in my M3. Works fine when I have cell coverage.

Bond 007 |
5 March, 2020

I like to use FM radio simply because it is free and seamless to use. Simply press one button and you are on. Are there any streaming services for which you don’t have to offer your credit card information? I understand they can provide music but will they provide news updates as well? I’m sorry I’ve never used them so I don’t know much about them anyway.

Puhiniho |
6 March, 2020

Unfortunately until the Y actually comes out, you just don't know if it'll have FM/XM (No AM for sure) ... Currently older S/X that want to upgrade the MCU aren't getting FM/XM even if they had previously had it. I hope that changes, but it's currently the reality at the moment. Otherwise all currently selling Teslas DO have FM :)

rxlawdude |
6 March, 2020

@Puhiniho, almost 100% sure that FM will be included. Likewise, 100% sure no AM or SiriusXM.

bp |
7 March, 2020

Tesla's built-in streaming apps do not provide a replacement for the live local & national news and sports programming available on FM/HD radio/XM. Since many AM stations are simulcast on HD radio, losing AM didn't have much impact.

A combination of smartphone apps can access most of the programs available on FM/HD radio/XM. But accessing those programs requires using multiple apps, and interacting with the smartphone display, which is illegal while driving in many areas.

Plus, live sports (professional, major college) is typically blacked out from local station streaming and requires purchasing a premium subscription to services like SiriusXM or TuneIn.

Tesla could invest more in their streaming apps, expanding the number of buit-in streaming apps, provide an integrated interface that would make it easier to access channels across all of the apps (not having to interact with each app individually), and include the premium subscriptions (for live sports) as part of the premium connectivity package.

Or Tesla could implement the screen mirroring Musk promised years ago, so drivers would be able to interact with their smartphone apps through the console display. Though this would require drivers to navigate between multiple apps, and manage their own premium subscriptions to enough apps to replace what they are getting for free from FM/HD radio.

In our S & X, we use the FM/HD radio/XM tuners during most of our drives, listening to live local/national news/sports. When researching the loss of radio to upgrade our MCU1 vehicle to MCU2, determined that most of the programming we listen to would not be available with Tesla's built-in streaming apps, and would require using our smartphones - which will probably mean we will not be purchasing the Infotainment Upgrade for our 2017 S (unless Tesla can add the MCU2 radio to the upgrade).

For many drivers, the loss of FM/HD radio/XM will be OK - because they listen to USB audio (which still has bugs dating back to 2013 and lacks basic functionality like playlists), use Tesla's built-in streaming apps or their smartphone apps while driving.

But not everyone will be willing to do that - and it may be premature for Tesla to be the only manufacturer not including a radio in their vehicles (or in supporting screen mirroring with systems like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto).

jerrykham |
7 March, 2020

Quote: The fact is that 100% of all EVs sold in the US have FM radio, and many have AM too.

Not too sure about that. My 2017 S has both AM and FM. But I just got a note from Tesla advertising the MCU 2 upgrade and it says very clearly in the link that if I upgrade that I will no longer have either AM OR FM. Link: https://www.tesla.com/support/infotainment?redirect=no&utm_term=remainingMS. True, it was SOLD with both of those. But it will not have either of them after the upgrade. And I WILL upgrade. I am so tired of it taking over 2 minutes to redraw the screen and show the traffic after it switches from day to night mode or after it switches from zoomed in city mode to zoomed out highway mode.

rxlawdude |
7 March, 2020

@Jerry, kind of circular logic. Of course the whole issue is that your 2017 S will lose those features. New Teslas (S, X) still have FM and SiriusXM.

WW_spb |
7 March, 2020

Never ever use radio in any car. I want to listen to music not people talk and commercials.

Yodrak. |
7 March, 2020

I find that the entertainment offerings in my Tesla are far more numerous and varied than what's available on radio. I'm very happy with it.

Earl and Nagin ... |
8 March, 2020

@WW and Yodrak,
Yes, the entertainment is fine - no question. Its the useful local information that is lacking, especially in remote areas.
I tire of this discussion, however. Some folks will probably never understand because they don't go to such places and they wouldn't know how to use the tools anyway.
Clearly, we won't have AM but its silly for folks to expose their narrow-scope by saying they don't need it.

Yodrak. |
8 March, 2020

Narrow scope? There's no narrower scope than AM radio.

rxlawdude |
8 March, 2020

@Yodrack, to you. Others disagree.

Earl and Nagin ... |
8 March, 2020

@Yodrak,
Correct. Sometimes, however, a little bit of information makes a huge difference.
When you're in unfamiliar territory, the sky is dark, visibility is terrible and hinting of tornados that you'd never see coming, its great to be able to scan the AM radio for a station to tell you if there is a Tornado Watch or Warning where you are. You can continuously monitor to find out whether you should dive into a ditch or whether you can push on to a safer (more comfortable) destination. There will be someone at the AM radio station watching the weather reports and reporting it to me so I can drive.
In the city, AM radio stations constantly monitor real-time traffic and let me know useful information that gets me where I need to go - quickly and safely, augmenting traffic on Tesla navigation, Waze, and Sigalert.com which might just route me from a congested freeway and onto a road blocked by a fire (happened once to me when I wasn't in FM-subchannel coverage).
On the other hand, I guess you can tune out from the world, being entertained by your glorious MP3's and be blissfully ignorant. Fortunately, tornados strike quickly (I've been hit by one and watched another form and strike) so you won't see it coming and you may go quick.
Sometimes I'm happy to wait to listen to my beautiful music after I've arrived safely at my destination.
I guess those of you who long to be listening to your iPod in the back of your Mommy's mini-van probably don't actually realize that things are happening around you. Us old geezers like to be able to be situationally aware.
Its easy enough to get music when all is good. Good information can be tougher to find. Getting someone to read it to you as you drive can be even tougher.
Again, it doesn't matter because AM is fairly incompatible with high-powered switching power supplies in EVs but we don't have to naively rationalize the latest fads.

NKYTA |
8 March, 2020

I’m still ambivalent. If I had AM, I would have had KGO 810 (no longer). I get missing 610am but I spent time in CO, if it is snowing, look up! 1600am, look ahead.

I listen to podcasts on the 25 min to work. Works.

Meh.

lessrandom |
9 March, 2020

I totally get the people that want FM. There are some great FM channels in my area and I want to tune in to them. The good news, the FM support on the Model 3 is outstanding, first rate. The channel selection is super easy. The HD-FM works and sounds really, really good (not as good as FLACs from USB, but that's a whole different thing.) Picking up artist info etc from the stream works as you'd expect.

So in short, Tesla did a great job with FM support in the Model 3. One can only assume they'll do the same for the Model Y, but who knows?

Propwash |
11 March, 2020

I will really miss KIRO FM Radio in Seattle for traffic and news radio. Spotify gets old after awhile

blkice |
11 March, 2020

So do you like Baseball, football, sports talk radio latest news? Without AM good luck

wytknukls |
12 March, 2020

Here in California, all the highway information broadcasts (traffic, safety, California weather - not real weather but still can affect your drive) are on AM. I miss AM radio.